Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-05-14

there her composure LEFT her. for she was but
| a loving woman after all. She flung herself
upon her bed, and, hiding her face in the pill
low, burst into paroxysm of weeping-a
very different thing from Bessie's gentle
tears. Her grief absolutely convulsed her,
and she pushed the bed clothes against her
mouth to prevent the sound of it penetrating
the partition walls and reaching John Niel's
| ears, for his room was next to hers. Even In
the midst of her suffering the thought of the
irony of the thing forced itself into her mind.
| There separated from her only by few
| inches of hath and plaster and some four or
five feet of space, was the man for whom she
| mourned thus, and yet he was as ignorant of
| it as though he were thousands of miles away
Sometimes, at such acute crises in our lives,
the limitations of our physical nature do
strike us in this sort of way. 1t is strange to
I be so near and yet so far, and it brings the
absolute and utter loneliness of every created
being home TO mind in a manner that is
forcible and at times almost terrible. John
Mel going composedly to sleep, his mind
happy with the recollection of those two right
and left shots, and jess lying on her bed, six
feet away, and sobhing out her stormy heart
over him, are after all but types of what is
continually going on in this renarka-
BILE world. How often do we understand one
anothers griefa and, when we do, by what
standard can we measure it, More especially
is comprehension rare if we happen TO be the
original cause of the trouble Do we think
of the feelings of the beetles it is our painful
duty TO crush into nothiugueSs: Not at all
| If we have any compunctions, they are
quickly absorbed in the pride of our capture
And more often still, as in the present case,
we set our foot upon the poor victim by pure
accident or venal carelessness.
| Suffering, mental suffering, is prerogative
| of greatness and even here there lies an ex-
quisite joy at its core. For everything has ITS
compensations. Nerves such as these can
| thrill with high happiness that will sweep
| unfelt over the mass OF men. Thus he who is
stricken with grief at the sight of the worlds
mlSery-as all great and good men must be
Is at times lifted up with joy by catching some
faint CLEAN of the almighty purpose that
| underlleS it all So it was with the Son of
Man in his darkest hours; the spirit that
| enabled him to compass out the measure of
the worlds suffering and sin enabled him also,
knowing thek' purposes, to gaze beyond them:
and thus it is, too, with those deep hearted
dimly, of his divinity.
And so, even in this hour of her darkest
bitterness and grief, gleam of comfor. strug
| gled to jess breast just as the first raw of
dawn was struggling through the stormy
night She would sacrifice herself to her
sister-that she had determined on; and hence
came that cold CLEAN of happiness, for there
is happiness in self sacrifice, whatever the
| cynical may say At first her wonan's nature
had risen in rebellion against the thought.
Why should she throw her life away. She
had as good right to him as Bessie and she
knew that by the strength Of her own hand
she could hold him against Bessie in all her
beauty, however far things had gone between
them; and she believed, as a jealous woman
is prone TO do, that they had gone much
farther than they had
But by and by her better self rose up and
mastered the promptings of her heart. Bessie
| loved him, and Bessie was weaker than she
and less suited to bear pain, and she had
sworn to her dying mother-for Bessie had
been her mothers darling-to promote her
happiness, and, come what would, Ia comfort
and protect her by every means in her power
1t was wide oath, and she was only a child
when she took it, but it bound her conscience
none the less and surely it covered this. Be
sides, she dearly loved her-far, far more than
she loved herself. No. Bessie should have her
lover, and she should never know what 1t had
cost her TO give him up; and for herself,
well, she must go away like wounded buck,
| and hide till she got wcl-ur died
She laughed drear little laugh. and went
and brushed her haR' Just as the broad lights
OF the dawn came streaming across the misty
veldt. But she did not look at her face again
| In the glass; she cared no more about it now,
| Then she threw herself down to sleep the
sleep of utter exhaustion before 1t was time
to go out again and face the world and her
new sorrow
Poor Jess Loves young dream had not
overshadowed her for long 1t had tarried
just three hours. But it had left other
dreams behind
| Uncle said jess that morning to old Si!as
Croft as he stood by the lsrlal gate where he
had been counting out the sheeP-an opera
ton requiring great quickness OF eye, and on
the accurate performance of which he greatly
I prided himself
YES, yes, my dear, l know what YOU are
going to say. 1t vas very neatly done: it
isn't everybody who can count out GOO run
ming, hungry sheep withou. a mistake But
then, | oughtnt to say too much, for You see
/ have been at it for fifty years, in the Old
| Colony and here. Now, many a man would
get fifty sheep wrong. There's Mel now
J "Uncle,' said she, wuciHg little at the
name, as horse with sore back winces at.
the touch of the saddle. lit wasn't about the
sheep that WIS going 10 speak to you.
want you TO do me a favor
| "a favor! Why, God bless the girl. how
pale you look-not but what you are always
| pale. Well. what is il now?7
Il want to go up to Pretoria by the post
cart that leaves Wakkerstroom tomor-
row afternoon, and to stop for couple Of
months with my schoofellow Jane Neville
| have often promised 10 go, and have never
| gone"
swell, | never" said the old man "Mv
stay at home jess wanting to go away, and
without Bessie too! What is the matter
| with your
Il want change, uncle, do, indeed.
| hope you won'tthwart me in this .
Her uncle looked at her steadily with his
| keen, gray eyes.
"Humphl" he said, "you want to 20 away
| and there's an end of 1t Best not ask TOO
many questions where maid is concerned.
Very well, my dear, 60 if you like, though
| | shall miss yonn
THANK you. uncle" she said, and kissed
him, and then turned and went.
Old Croft took off his broad hat and pol
ished his bald bead with red pocket band
| kerchief
there's something up with that girl he
| said aloud to a lizard that had crept out of
the crevices of the stone wall to bask IN the
sun. 81 am not such fool as / look, and
say that there is something wrong with her
She is odder than ever and he bit vicinusly
at the lizard with his stick, whereon it
promptly bottled into its crack, returning
presently to see If the irate "humann had de
| parted
However" he soliloqui5ed, as he made his
way up to the house, Il am glad that it was
| not Bessie ! couldn't bear, at my time of
life, to part with Bessie even for couple of
months